Long Thompson to take on Daniels

Democratic rival Schellinger concedes race for nomination.

Democratic rival Schellinger concedes race for nomination.

May 08, 2008|ED RONCO Tribune Staff Writer

Indianapolis architect and South Bend native Jim Schellinger conceded the Democratic nomination for governor Wednesday to former U.S. Rep. Jill Long Thompson. Schellinger called Long Thompson around 4:15 p.m., according to representatives of both campaigns. That means Long Thompson will try to unseat Gov. Mitch Daniels in November's election. Early Wednesday, Schellinger's campaign issued a statement declaring the race not over and saying more time needed to pass so provisional ballots could be counted and all precincts could report results. With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Schellinger trailed Long Thompson by more than 7,100 votes. But as the day wore on, Schellinger's chances of overtaking Long Thompson dimmed. "We're disappointed that we won't get the chance to take on Mitch Daniels in November, but we wouldn't trade the last 15 months for anything," Schellinger said in a statement. "It truly was an amazing journey for me and my entire family." At a Wednesday afternoon news conference in Indianapolis, a confident Long Thompson said she will win in the fall and spend eight years -- two terms -- "rebuilding Indiana's economy." And Jim Schellinger could be on a list of prospective lieutenant governors, she said. "There will be a number of people who will be considered, and he certainly will be among the group," she said. "I am focusing like a laser on Indiana's economy, and that will be a very important criterion for whomever I select as running mate." Long Thompson said Democrats are united behind the goal of defeating Gov. Mitch Daniels, and that she will win by focusing on the issues. "He likes to talk about what he calls his successes, but the fact is we lost 16,200 jobs in March," she said. "The unemployment insurance trust fund has dropped from $1 billion to under $100 million. We have a high school drop-out rate that is unacceptable and that's hurting our ability to attract industry here. We have higher than average health-care costs." Cam Savage, spokesman for Daniels' campaign, said Indiana is doing a lot better than other states. "Nobody has any doubt that Indiana is doing much better than our neighbors," he said. "We've broken records for job creation the last three years, we're leading the Midwest in a number of categories." Meanwhile, Daniels is working on plans to make college more affordable and get more money into classrooms, and will continue to focus on doing his job, Savage said. "He firmly believes the best thing he can do from an election standpoint is continue to work hard to do a good job," he said. "This morning, he was announcing that 125 new high-paying life sciences jobs have come to the state. That's the reason he gets up in the morning." Staff writer Ed Ronco: eronco@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6353